AMD unveils new graphics card driver Catalyst Omega

Graphics card specialist AMD is stepping up its efforts in the battle with rival Nvidia with a revamped version of its Catalyst GPU drivers.

The news comes from TechSpot, although that link appears to be down – but not before NeoGaf grabbed some of the details.

Catalyst Omega offers a number of new features, chief of which is possibly in-built downsampling from 4K resolutions. Also offered is improved frame pacing for CrossFire users and a handful of new video features such as Fluid Motion and Contour Removal.

There will also be improved performance in a range of titles. TechSpot noted gains in BioShock Infinite and Metro Redux, although there was no change in titles including Watch Dogs, Battlefield 4, Crysis 3 and Tomb Raider.

Omega is, according to one slide, apparently limited to R9 290 and R9 285 GPUs, leaving 270 and 7000 series out in the cold.

AMD has tried to bring lots of new options to the table to try and regain market share from Nvidia, including its own proprietary Mantle APU. However, support for Mantle has been limited and results mixed. And in the interim many titles continue to post better launch performance on Nvidia cards, leaving AMD to rush to update its drivers in the days following triple-A releases.